Until the Nightingale Sings
by Veronzies
Summary: Katyushka never goes on walks; she firmly believes that they are a waste of time. However, today was different.


Katyushka never went on walks. She felt that they were a waste of time, as she could be doing so much in that time. But today was different. It was a sunny spring day, without a single cloud in the sky. If the beautiful weather wasn't what pushed her out of the family cottage, her younger sister's moodiness from her special time of the month was.

So she was out on a simple walk. No destination. Her only limit was to make her way home when the nightingales started to sing.

She was free to do as she pleased.

The small village she called home got smaller and smaller as she made her way up the rolling hills of the Carpathian mountains. the wind blew through her short dress, causing a slight inconvenience, but added to the freeness of the moment nonetheless.

Once she reached the top, she looked down at the village she called home. from afar, it looked still, void of any life. However, she knew that people were walking around the market square that morning, gathering the foodstuff they would need for the next few days.

It seemed surreal.

Katyushka gently sat down in the grass, careful to make sure her skirt fell over her crossed legs. She drank the sights she saw before her; the colorful cottages, the towering Carpathians seen farther in the horizon, the occasional dot of white against the green grassland showing a cow in the middle of lunch.

Lunch?

Katyushka looked up to see the sun in the center of the sky. She had spent all morning climbing to the top of this hill, which was much longer than she thought. In a fit of disappointment, she fell backward, lying on her back.

"Half the day wasted," she grunted to herself. She looked down at the village below her. Part of her wanted to go back down and get some cleaning done around the cottage she and her family called home. The other part of her wanted to stay and enjoy this new-felt freedom from everyday life.

After a few moments of debate, she opted to stay. She spent so much time walking up here, she might as well stay a while.

Slowly, she rose a slight bit to allow her elbows to hold her upper half up. She eyed her surroundings, looking for something to occupy herself with. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a patch of yellow.

Dandelions.

A soft smile stuck to her face as she stood up. She could get so much entertainment out of dandelions: flower crowns, wishes, and harvest them for future meals. She made her way over to the patch when something caught her foot, causing her to fall over said object.

"Shit!" an unknown disgruntled voice growled. Katyushka thrashed her head back to see a tall, tanned man lying where she tripped.

"Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry!" Katyushka gasped as she pulled her legs from over his torso.

"Nah, you're fine. It was about time I got up anyway," the man replied. He rubbed his eyes awake. Once his eyes were opened and fully adjusted to the light, he proceeded to sit up and wipe the bits of grass and dirt from his skin and clothes.

"No, I feel bad, I have to make it up to you somehow," Katyushka persisted. Unsure of what she could do, she glanced around. Soon her eyes squared down on the yellow patch of dandelions. "I know! I'll make you a flower crown! It's the least I can do!" Without waiting for a response, she grabbed the mysterious man's hands and led him to the patch located a short distance away.

"Uh, ok," was all the man could think to say. Once the two reached the patch, they sat down cross-legged.

Katyushka quickly got to work, picking the flowers that were most in bloom. All the man could do was watch as she twisted the flowers skillfully around each other to create a crown.

"So, I never got your name," the man told Katyushka.

Katyushka froze for a moment, just staring at the flowers, as her face began to flush red in color. 'How rude of me to have not introduced myself!' she thought.

"Katyushka," she simply replied as she got her thoughts together. The man just smiled at her flustered appearance.

"Well that's a nice name. Much nicer than Sadiq," the man, Sadiq, replied.

"Sadiq. That sounds familiar. What's your surname?"

"Adnan."

"Oh you're from the Adnan family," Katyushka sighed, "I'm from the Braginsky family."

The Adnan family head and the Braginsky family head, her brother Ivan, had been feuding over a land dispute over the past five years. What started as a cow grazing a little too far ended up being a constant battle over land borders and where to build the fence. Since the land was so old, the original deeds have been lost to time, further complicating the matter. Thus, the two men sunk down to petty tactics, most of it being harmless in nature, but annoying nonetheless.

The two sat in silence. The silence wasn't awkward, but it wasn't comfortable either. Katyushka continued to twist the flowers while Sadiq just watched. he silence was broken, however, when Katyushka's stomach began to growl.

"Hungry?" Sadiq asked as he reached for the sack attached to his hip.

"No, I'm fi..." Katyushka started to insist, but she was promptly interrupted by her stomach growling once again.

Sadiq chuckled and pulled out of the sack two orange fruits. "Here, have a sweet orange," he offered as he started to peel away the rind.

"Oh, ok," Katyushka reluctantly replied. Once the fruit was fully peeled, Sadiq handed her the orange. She stared at it for a minute. The color of the fruit was the color of a sun set setting on a clear day. Around the orange was little strings of yellow-white. The shape almost reminded her of spiderwebs that she would frequently find around the ceiling bannisters in her home. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sadiq finish peeling the orange and pull it apart, to reveal sections of the fruit. In awe, Katyusha tried it. She pulled apart the slices of the orange slowly, watching the membrane slowly rip apart from each other.

Katyushka pulled off a slice and hesitantly popped it into her mouth. When she bit down, a blast of sweet, tangy liquid filled her mouth. The more she chewed, the more flavor escaped the slice and into her mouth. She closed her eyes in pure bliss. After a few more chews, she swallowed the slice and feverishly peeled off a new piece to eat. With every chew, she made sure her lips were sealed, as to not let a single drop of flavor escape her lips. Before she knew it, the entire fruit was eaten.

This had to be her new favorite fruit.

"Thank-you so much, Sadiq, was it?" Katyushka asked.

"Yes, and it's no problem. My dad recently got back from the empire, so we have a bunch at home," he replied as he popped his last slice into his mouth.

"The empire? Oh, you must be Ottoman, then," Katyushka thought out loud.

"Yeah. I was born and raised in Constantinople. We moved here 14 years ago in 1889 due to overcrowding in the city."

"Oh, that must have been tough."

"Well, learning Ukrainian was challenging at first. But I got the hang of it after a while."

"Do you go back often?" Katyushka asked as she finished the crown. She gently placed the crown of dandelions atop Sadiq's head.

Sadiq looked up in attempt to see what the crown looked like on his head. Looking at him trying to look up made Katyushka giggle a little bit.

"Nah, but my dad goes every once in a while. He brings home oranges whenever he can," Sadiq responded. He tugged the crown from his head and examined it closer. He looked at the twisted stems in a attempt to figure out how she did it. "Hey, Katyushka," Sadiq asked, "Can you teach me how to make one of these?"

"A flower crown? Sure!" Katyushka excitedly replied. She didn't know why she was so excited, but she was.

The rest of the day was spent by the two making flower crowns and talking about their lives. Sadiq learned about hoe Katyushka's father died when her younger sister was born. Katyushka learned about his time in Constantinople.

Minutes soon turned into hours. It felt like they were talking forever, yet not long enough. They were so engrossed in conversation that they didn't notice the sun slowly dipping past the horizon.

Soon, the conversation came to a halt when Katyushka overheard the nightingales start to sing.

"Oh, It's getting late. I have to go home before my mom and brother scold me," Katyusha gasped as she stood up. She started to run when she felt a tug at her shoulder.

"Wait! What are you doing tomorrow?" Sadiq asked whilst catching his breath from the quick sprint, "I enjoy talking with you. I want to talk to you more."

"I mean, I have my everyday chores, but other than that, I'm free," Katyushka answered after a moment of thought.

"Great! Do you want to meet here at noon? Ill bring something to eat," Sadiq nervously suggested, with a slight blush flushing his face.

"I'd love to," Katyushka replied with a sweet smile. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach as her face slowly darkened by a few shades of red.

"Great, then it's a date."

* * *

**I hope y'all enjoyed this- writing this was different for me, as this isn't a couple I normally ship. I was inspired to write this after listening to the song Solovey (the Ukrainian entry for Eurovision 2020, if you don't know what Eurovision is, I highly recommend you look into it).**

**Thanks for reading (Sorry if Turkey is a bit out of character, I've never written him before)**


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